TailorFit; The Integrated “made to measure” workflow automation for menswear

Project Information

TailorFit

Grant agreement ID: 672890

DOI

10.3030/672890

Project closed

EC signature date 4 May 2015

Start date 1 June 2015

End date 30 November 2015

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Nanotechnologies

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

CREA SOLUTION SRL
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TailorFit (TailorFit; The Integrated “made to measure” workflow automation for menswear)

Reporting period: 2015-06-01 to 2015-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

"Crea Solution Srl proposes the TailorFit solution that will dramatically accelerate the timing of the whole process, by managing every step of menswear manufacturing:
- Acquisition of body measures and selection of the type of clothing, collected in a store anywhere in the world or online.
- Outfit design: data is sent to an intelligent CAD-based system that will generate the optimal personal-tailored outfit design starting from the chosen clothes model.
- Outfit manufacturing: software will identify the optimized fabric nesting and cut, according to the fabric design and its physical characteristics (i.e. the deformation) and then will automatically cut it rapidly allowing time and fabric scraps savings.
The project targets all European luxury fashion firms that specifically manufacture classic menswear clothing (i.e. shirts, jackets, trousers, coats...) and proposes their personalization. On one hand, personalization is a great opportunity to provide the final clients with the clothes they desire, but on the other hand, luxury fashion houses face the increasing need of having some automated solutions that will help them in creating ""customized products"" in a faster lead-time. In fact, all the fashion houses manufacturing menswear are focused on providing Made to Measure products for their customers, because it increases their revenues, but at the same time this also increases their costs.
TailorFit: An integrated and automated management of the whole value chain through the introduction of innovative nesting and cutting software, embedded in a new cutting machine, will improve speed and utilization as well as decrease the lead time, increase customization application and decrease costs.

"

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

"Several preliminary tests, conducted at CREA SOLUTION SRL premises within the SME INSTRUMENT PHASE 1 shown that it’s possible to gather data from anywhere there’s a stable internet connection, and that the cutting machine can cut the fabrics in 3(process) + 3\4(cutting) minutes with an accuracy of 0.1mm reducing the amount of fabric scraps by 70/80% compared to state of the art cutting and sewing techniques and reducing overall costs by 50%.
TailorFit concerns the global supply chain of ""made to measure"" clothes, from the B2C order until fabric cut. This is the current state of development of the Innovation project, expressed in percentages:
1. A product configurator has been drafted (5%) for the matching of the model to its characteristics such as the fabrics, accessories, monograms, measure etc.
2. The B2C portal was implemented only at kernel level (35%): it will be set up for its customers, and process automation will allow the splitting of data in a controlled manner to the next step.
3. The CAD system (25%) creates and develops the sizes of the models found within an ad hoc database necessary for the rapid selection of the parts that make up the model chosen by the customer (the CAD is almost completed, while the database has just been started).
4. the application “Made To Measure” (65%) changes the measurements of the parts that make up the model according to the customer's measurements, applied in the range of change of the measurements envisaged, and the new model MTM is made.
5. The MTM system combines (75%) the modified patterns with a virtual fabric.
6. A special automatic nesting (50%) of parts on striped\squared fabrics will be developed to achieve the patterns layout on the fabric.
7. A special camera (0%) installed on board of the cutting machine, allows the actual reading of the fabric and the normal deformation while it is being stretched / inserted into the cutting table itself
The reworking / fitting / deformation of the placement of the cutting is expected to be automatically performed in few seconds, between the time of writing / loading / reading of the fabric and its arrival in the cutting area.
"

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

TailorFit solution will dramatically increase the productivity of fashion houses that produce menswear and are focused on providing Made to Measure clothing to their customers.
The number of companies involved in Made to Measure menswear is constantly growing. Companies that produce men’s clothing are focusing more and more on providing their customers with Made to Measure products. This increases revenues but, at the same time, also increases their costs. Their main issue is the automation and simplification of the process, in order to exploit the mass production tool they already own for a customized product. An integrated and automated management of the process, as TailorFit is, will decrease the lead-time, increase customization application and decrease costs. It is clear that a solution such as TailorFit will dramatically increase the productivity of CREA SOLUTION SRL as well as of large companies that produce clothing for men.
The TailorFit solution will manage effectively the entire process from measurement collection to outfit delivery. A web tool manages the collection of the order from the fashion house shop, reducing or eliminating the inefficiencies actually involved in the completely manual process that includes the model modification and cloth cutting. Fabric scraps will be reduced especially in striped and plaid fabrics, whose cutting require more attention and generally imply more waste.
With the TailorFit solution, CREA SOLUTION will confirm its presence in the market by letting menswear producers to revolutionize their current long and expensive processes moving to an automated streamline production of made to measure clothes.
The target market is represented firstly by European manufacturers of classical shirts and clothes for men, tackling the big and well known European fashion houses, which have their most attractive markets in Europe, Asia and USA.

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